Obituaries

Earl C. Schmidt ( Missoula 1943 )

posted: Nov 11, 2014

Earl, 94, died November 5, 2014, in Lancaster, PA. He was a CPS-103 smokejumper, one of the conscientious objectors from the Peace Churches that filled the ranks of the jumpers to keep the program alive during the war years.

Earl was a Mennonite from Kansas and one of the few CPS jumpers who jumped all three years from 1943-45. He was active in the CPS smokejumper reunions at Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 2000 and later at Hungry Horse, MT.

It was a letter from Earl that told of Wag Dodge introducing the “escape fire” during jumper training in 1943, years ahead of its use at Mann Gulch.